FTC Google probe may run into 2013

A federal antitrust investigation of Google is not yet finished, and regulators plan to take additional time likely into next year to study whether the company's proposed remedies are in the interest of consumers, a source with knowledge of the probe told POLITICO.

The news Tuesday comes despite knowledgeable sources reporting that the FTC would wrap up its roughly 20-month probe of the company as soon as the end of the week, a move that prompted criticism from Google critics and others.

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Chairman Jon Leibowitz had said he hoped to finish the investigation this year.

Sources earlier this week said the agency was ready to hand down a consent decree that limited Google's use of patents, while accepting from the company a series of informal concessions in search and advertising. Ultimately, that conclusion would have spared Google from an antitrust showdown in court. It is unclear if the FTC is still moving in this direction.

The FTC did not comment on the new timetable Tuesday. A spokesman for Google was not immediately available for comment.

More time in the United States, however, could give U.S. regulators new opportunity to coordinate a settlement with their European counterparts. And earlier Tuesday, the leading antitrust regulator in Europe, Joaquin Almunia, expressed interest in Google's new pledge to submit "detailed commitment text" that could remedy the lingering competition concerns.

“Since our preliminary talks with Google started in July, we have substantially reduced our differences," Alumnia said in a statement.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 6:44 p.m. on December 18, 2012.